COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 31, 2012) – Three U.S. women’s beach teams are competing May 31-June 3 at the FIVB Seoul Women’s International Challenger in Korea.

The beach volleyball teams of Christal Engle/Tealle Hunkus, Jennifer Fopma/Brooke Sweat, and Emily Day/Heather Hughes traveled to Korea for the opportunity to earn FIVB points toward qualifying for a spot on the FIVB SWATCH World Tour. Each U.S. team walked away from the first day of play on Thursday with a 1-1 record.

Fopma (Bellflower, Calif.) and Sweat (Estero, Fla.) received the No. 26 seed at Seoul. In the first round, they defeated their U.S. compatriots Day and Hughes (No. 7) 21-9, 23-21 in 36 minutes. In the next round, they fell to the Japanese team of Ayumi Kusano and Mutsami Ozaki (No. 23) 19-21, 18-21 in 38 minutes.

On Friday, they will face the Kazakhstan team of Irina Tsimbaloua and Tatyana Mashkova (No. 8).

Day (Torrance, Calif.) and Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif.) bounced back from their first-round loss to Fopma and Sweat with a decisive victory over Korea’s Ryu No. 10 Eun-hye and Moon Seul-ki, 21-13, 21-12 in 28 minutes. On Friday, they will face U.S. teammates Engle (Mar Vista, Calif.) and Hunkus (El Segundo, Calif.).

Engle and Hunkus received the No. 25 seed at Seoul. In the first round, they defeated the Kazakhstan team of Irina Tsimbaloua and Tatyana Mashkova (No. 8) 21-15, 21-13 in 36 minutes. In the next round, they fell to Germany’s Teresa Mersmann and Cinja Tillmann (No. 24) 15-21, 17-21 in 37 minutes.

Complete information about the FIVB World Tour is available on the FIVB web site.